Just a Dream
by w0nderland5
Summary: On a case in a run down hotel, Mai and Naru spend some "quality" time together after they can't get back into their rooms. Just fluff, hence why it's rated K.


**Hiya guys! I don't know whether or not this is going to update you if you've favorited/followed my story, but I just want to make it clear that this is not a new chapter. It's just the same one from before edited better and had some new details thrown in :) That's about it for now, I'm still going to write more stories in the future, I just don't know when/if I'm going to do anything major. I just don't have the time :( Anyway thanks for all the lovely reviews, and in response to a few or them: This will not become a multi-chapter story. There was never any intended plot for it, I just felt like making fluffy stuff so I did. If you want another chapter you're more than welcome to use my story to base some other chapters off of, but all I ask is that you credit it & me and send me a message telling me you did. Thanks x3**

Naru: Aren't you forgetting something?

**Umm...no I covered everything didn't I?**

Naru: You're going to get yourself sued with a memory like that.

**Huh?**

Naru: *Sighs* My author would like to state that she does NOT own Mai, myself or any of the rest of the characters, nor does she own Ghost Hunt in general...

**OH! Thank you Naru-chan!** **I totally forgot. Heh heh. Don't want to be sued now do I?**

Naru: I've told you not to call me that. Now, if you are done being forgetful, I have work that needs to be done.

**xP Weenie head.**

Mai: *giggles* I'm totally calling him that from now on.

* * *

**Just a Dream…**

Running…

Running was all she could do to escape to villainous creatures that seemed to only visit her as she tried so hard to get a night's sleep. The hand of the large transparent figure reached out for her and she found herself bolting into an upright position. Mai looked around the room; sweat covering her brow.

_Good, _she thought, using the sleeve of her shirt to wipe the perspiration from her face. _It was just a dream._

Turning over and sitting halfway up, Mai felt something slide off her shoulders and crumple to the floor. In mild confusion, she leaned down to retrieve the object, and felt her fingers brush against the cool, smooth fabric of the black jacket, which could have only belonged to one person: Naru.

Mai sighed lightly and lifted the jacket back up onto the sofa where she had evidently fallen asleep, and looked around the semi-dark room. Just as usual, she found herself sitting on the couch of the one of the many SPR bases. Even though the location of the base changed depending on the case they took, more often than not, the room they had been given conveniently had a couch or other preferable piece of furniture for her to doze off on. Naru was going to kill her for sleeping on the job again though.

Sighing, Mai turned and stood from the couch and stretched her arms above her head. She patted down her yellow, long sleeve blouse and jeans, and combed out her short brown hair with her fingers. Soon enough, her eyes adjusted to the dimness of the room and she was able to make out the faint glowing of the monitors that lined the shelves in the one next door. Slowly she made her way over to the door way, smacking her leg on the edge of the half shadowed coffee table in the process, and peered inside. Looking around she only saw one person, and realized that the others had probably headed off to bed; even Lin.

Naru sat in the uncomfortable looking folding chair in front of the rows of screens. Having his back to her, he hadn't even notice Mai creep around the corner to watch him while he worked. She looked him over and took in his appearance. Minus his black jacket, Naru sat with a straight back and the sleeves of his black button up shirt rolled to his elbows. She watched as he lazily scanned through a file, flipped through the pages, and jotted down some short notes, then paused for a second to silently yawn. He looked back up at the screens staring at them absent mindedly. Out of all the months she had worked for him, Mai realized that she had never seen Naru look so…undone. He had always been dressed neat and formal, so seeing him jacketless _and _arm bearing was different, but by no means bad. If anything he looked more handsome than before. His sleepily tussled hair and relaxed shoulders were endearing and he looked semi relaxed for once. However the fact that he was the only one up and had not gone to bed yet did not sit well with her.

Mai watched him with a concerned eye, realizing he had probably had gotten less sleep than she had this entire trip. The team had been here for three days so far; hunting for the supposed ghost that haunted the Maxwell Inn, which was placed in some far off forgotten town that nobody ever came to anyway. No activity had occurred at all this entire trip, and they _were_ going to leave that morning, but Masako had claimed that there 'was indeed a spirit here', so Naru decided that they would say a couple of days longer.

Sighing softly to herself, she walked forward, and yawned. "Naru?"

He turned his head; his raven hair gliding with it. She looked at him with wide eyes and noticed that the top two buttons of his shirt were undone too, revealing his neck and top of his chest. _Dear lord. _Mai's heart fluttered as she thought for a moment, but she quickly shooed the feeling away. He looked up at her as she walked over to him, but then returned his attention to the folder that had been boring him moments before. "Hey…Naru?" she repeated softly as she moved to the chair sitting next to him.

"What is it, Mai?" He asked, attempting to sound annoyed at her sudden appearance, but was much too exhausted to convince anyone at the moment. He still did not look at her, but Mai could see the dark circles forming under his eyes in the dim screen light, realizing she had actually not seen him sleep once this entire case. "What are you still doing up? It's-"she looked at the clock on the monitor and was baffled at the time. "-two in the morning!"

"I am well aware of that, Mai. I _can_ tell time." Mai scoffed at his tone, but was more annoyed at the fact that he was actually _trying_ to act irritated; even though she could tell he wasn't putting much effort behind it. She stared at him for a moment, and then turned her attention to the several monitors lining the wall, each of which showing a different shot of each and every room that so called "activity" had occurred in. Her mind flitted back to the dream she had just had a few minutes ago, and Mai tried to remember what had happened in it, but to no avail. She couldn't remember anything other than her running from someone, or something, and how useful could that be? She ran from something in all of her dreams, so what would make this one any different? She sighed slightly, unaware of the pair of indigo eye trained on her.

Mai's silence slightly unnerved Naru; mainly because the only time he had ever heard her this quiet was when she was sleeping or, as of late, disturbed by one of her dreams. He observed her blank face as she stared at the monitors but was obviously was not paying attention to any of them. Her short, brown hair hung freely over her shoulders, and her brown eyes were glazed over from her having been asleep moments ago. Naru felt his heart beat in a funny rhythm as his watched her (a normal occurrence nowadays) and chose to look away just as she turned her head back to him.

"Naru?" she asked for the third time, saying his nickname softly. Although he would never admit it, and never show it for that matter, he didn't mind the nickname that she had given him on the first case they worked together. Although, it often reminded him of Gene and the name he'd given him as a child, he didn't mind it.

"Yes, Mai?" he muttered, pretending to be busy in reading the folder he had already been looking at for several hours now.

Mai could tell he really was tired, considering that he hadn't replied with his usual what is it?

"Um, I was just wondering…when was the last time you got any decent sleep?" She didn't understand why, but a sudden wave of shyness crept over her. Mai attempted to brush it away as he looked over at her and she noticed he seemed slightly ridged at her question.

"And why are exactly are you concerned about my sleeping habits, Mai?" He asked, still trying to ignore the painful tiredness that had hit him like a brick wall hours ago. Mai turned pink and widened her eyes. "Oh, N-No! I wasn't- You just seem- It's only that I realized that I haven't seen you go to bed once this case, and you are always up when I get up, and I know_ I'm_ tired, so you _have _to be and-" Mai cut herself off before she could make any bigger of a fool of herself and sighed. She regained her composure and started again slowly as he looked at her expectantly. "I just was curious because you've seemed really worn out lately, and I was just wondering how much sleep you've gotten. You need sleep, Naru. It's not good for you to be up like this for so long."

Naru glanced at her, then back down to his notes which were placed on the big, black binder. "And since when exactly have I asked _you_ to be concerned for my health?" He asked her, not intending to be as abrasive as he came off.

Mai was taken aback by his sudden rudeness. Even though Naru had snapped at her before over the stupid things she had done, he had never sounded as mean as he had just now. She bristled with agitation.

"_Asked me?" _She said in a dangerously calm tone. "Naru, it's 2:00 AM for god's sake! Nobody should be up this late-or early for that matter! Why didn't you ask Lin or me to at least switch with you for this shift so you could get _some_ sleep? No wonder you're always so cranky! You don't take care of yourself!" Naru looked at her once again, only slightly taken aback at the expected response from his assistant. He realized, despite how much he wanted to tell himself differently, he really _did_ need sleep. Naru let out a breath and picked up the binder, placing it on the table in front of him. He leaned back in the chair and placed his head in his hand, rubbing his forehead, contemplating whether he should reply to the irritatingly persistent girl, or to fall asleep right then and there. Mai's anger dissolved away as she watched his tired, slow movements, and she felt more pity than anything else. She had never seen Naru act so out of character before.

_He must be really tired_. She thought as she reached over and placed a hand on his back, causing him to stiffen and look up at her. Though she felt the tension fill the room, Mai stood her ground, and looked at him calmly and smiled.

"It's okay to take a break every once in a while you know. You really are good at your job Naru, but your health is more important. If you get sick, this company will fall apart and _I'll _never hear the end of it. So please…" With that he looked back down and she could feel him relaxing under her small hand.

He rubbed his face once more and sat up as she removed her hand, a cold spot forming on his back. "Fine." He muttered quietly, hoping she wouldn't hear him giving in to her. Mai was the only person who could do that to him: make him give into her. Had she not come in he probably would have ended up spending the rest of the night going through files, and trying to stay awake. Mai smiled wider in triumph, but didn't say anything. Instead, she stood up as he did, and they made their way to the door.

The area they had been given to set up base in was connected by two long hallways to the rooms they'd be sleeping in, and despite the small size of the building, each of the members of SPR were given their own rooms. Mai's room was placed across the hall from his, so they slowly walked together down the long hallway. Neither of them spoke as Mai shivered slightly. When she had woken up earlier, she'd noticed that the sitting room had been little chilly, but this was _ridiculous_, she could barely feel her fingers! She wrapped her arms around her torso and glanced up at Naru, who slowly walked beside her, wondering if he felt how cold it was. He stared ahead at nothing in particular, and she noticed that he wasn't wearing his usual black coat. Mai realized that she had forgotten it on the couch in the other room, and cursing herself, she vowed to remember to give it back to him in the morning.

As they turned at the end of the first hallway, Mai noticed that a few of the windows had frost on them. She was about to point it out but stopped mid thought remembering that is was supposed to get really cold that night, and was most likely why the building felt like a walk in freezer. When they had first gotten there, the owner had warned them that the heating system was not at its best, and would shut off every now and then due to the building's old age. Mai scowled.

"What a great time for the heat to stop working." She grumbled under her breath, tightening her arms around her body. Naru glanced down at her, and smirked softly at her comment, but dropped it when she glanced up at him. "Hey Naru?" she asked, still walking. He didn't answer her but continued to walk, which Mai took as he was listening. "Do you ever wonder what it's like to be a ghost?" Naru was surprised at her question, not that it showed, but still, he did not answer. This didn't seem to faze Mai at all as she continued talking while they traveled down a flight of stairs to the second hallway. "I mean, to be stuck in one place for eternity, repeating your actions over and over again until someone else puts you to rest, has to be so…horrible. And then, seeing people you know and care about grow up around you while you stay the same for forever, never getting older, never being able to see them again. That has to be terrible. Right?"

Mai looked up at Naru expectantly only to be startled to see him looking back at her. "I suppose," He began, looking forward again. "It would be very…difficult to be unable to affect anything surrounding you. Despite what I do for a living I still can't imagine what that would be like." Mai was taken aback at the fact that he'd responded, let alone been listening to her in the first place. She stared at him in shock. First he'd answered her, and then he was telling her what _he _thought, instead of insulting her for asking such a question? _He must be really tired._ She thought. She looked back down at the ground.

"Oh." She said, kicking herself for not thinking of anything better to respond with. _Come on Mai, think of something! It isn't every day he talks to you like a civilized person_! She thought desperately.

By the time Mai was done yelling at herself they had arrived in the hallway in which their rooms were placed. Mai didn't want the time she spent talking to Naru to end, because it wasn't every day that he spoke like a normal person to her, and to be honest she actually enjoyed his company. As he walked up to his door, Mai stared at his back and tried to find something to say, but no words came to mind. She dropped her head and muttered quietly, "Goodnight Naru." She turned to her door and grabbed to handle. As she turned it, Mai heard something hit the ground on the other side and the handle that she was holding fell loosely into her palm.

"What the-" She said as she fumbled to grab the handle as it fell out of her hand and clattered loudly to the floor. Mai grabbed it and looked down the hall, making sure she didn't wake any of her friends up with the commotion she had been making. Behind her she heard a door close and thought that Naru had just left her standing outside her room, with no way to get in. "That jerk-" She said in a loud whisper as she turned around and stopped mid-sentence, he face flaring up in red. Naru stood outside his door looking at her.

"Naru what-"she started, but was cut off as he walked towards her.

"It appears," he said, stopping in front of her. "That someone has locked the chain lock in my room from the inside, and I have no way of getting in."

Mai stood there, still red, looking past him at the door. "How did _that_ happen?" she wondered aloud, but catching herself too late.

"If I knew that, I would not still be standing out here." He said, mocking her with his normal monotonous voice. Anybody but Mai would not have picked up on the hint of sarcasm and mocking in his tone, but she'd been hearing enough of it for the entirety of the months working for him to be able to recognize it by now.

"Well I can't get into mine either." She stated. "The handle fell off when I tried to open the door. Stupid hotel…" she muttered. "What do we do now?" Naru looked down the hall back towards where they came from, and Mai caught onto what he was thinking.

_There is always that couch that I was sleeping on, _she thought_. "But we can't both lay on it, now can we?_ The thought of laying so close to Naru made Mai's face heat up, and she shook her head to banish the thought. As she was looking down, Naru silently began to walk back towards the base, and Mai had to race to catch up with him. "Where are we going Naru?" she asked, instantly regretting it and expecting a snarky reply from her boss; but one did not come. He continued to walk as he glanced down at her and back up again before replying. "We are going back to the base considering the fact that there is nowhere else to go in this ridiculous building."

Mai easily picked up on the irritation in his voice, but still she was too preoccupied with trying to figure out how sleeping in there would be any better to care. "But Naru," she started. "There's nowhere for us to sleep in there either. I mean there's a couch but…" she trailed off, unsure of what to say next and trying not make him anymore agitated. Naru still did not reply as they neared the base, and he opened to door, only to reveal it had grown colder in there than before. Mai shivered as she made her way through the room where she had been sitting with him minutes ago, into the small sitting area, which harbored the small couch. She tried to turn on one of the lamps that were placed around the room, but it was just her luck that its bulb decided to conveniently burn out. Sighing she gave up and collapsed on the couch, exhaustion overcoming her. She pulled her knees up to her chest and shivered. "It got colder in here." She stated glumily, not noticing the pair of eyes that were still watching her. "We're going to freeze to death and then Lin will walk in in the morning, and find us nothing more than popsicles." Naru smirked at her irritation and walked over to the couch, stifling another yawn.

Mai's stomach fluttered as she looked over at him as he sat down to her right, brushing her leg due to the minimal room. She was thankful for the dim light in the room, because right then her face blazed up in red and she looked back down. Placing her forehead on her knees, she closed her eyes and welcomed the tiredness that overcame her. She jumped a little at the feeling of something covering her back, and she looked up to see Naru leaning besides her placing the black jacket from earlier back on her. "Thanks," she muttered, suddenly very shy. "But what about you Naru? You're going to freeze tonight without it." Naru ignored her and leaned his head on his hand that was propped up on the arm of the small couch. He gently closed his eyes, causing Mai to blush ever more at him. She continued to stare at him, wishing desperately that he would wrap his arms around her and hold her while she fell asleep, but she knew that that would never happen. Sighing, she leaned on the pillow to her left and rested her head back, slowly dozing off.

...

Mai suddenly found herself running once again; panting as if she had been going for hours. Her legs hurt, her lungs were burning and tears streaked down her face. She didn't know what else to do. The transparent figure was chasing her again, and the only thing she could to do was run.

The path that she was following was dark and surrounded by a dense forest, blocking any other chance of her escaping, making Mai panic even more. She took her chances and ran behind one of the thick trees and stopped to try and catch her breath. Her legs, which were once numb to any feeling, began to regain feeling, causing her to wince in pain. Her lungs wouldn't stop burning, and her heart was pounding so hard, she thought that it was going to explode out of her chest. Mai looked around; hoping to find some sort of salvation, but all she could see were more of the dense trees. She glanced around the tree to see if the figure was anywhere close behind, but she couldn't see anyone.

She closed her eyes and sighed, turning back around. She released the breath and reopened her eyes, when her breath caught in her throat. Standing directly in front of her, eyes level to her's was the figure, its breath blowing into her face. Mai wanted to scream, but no sound would escape her lips, she stood there, petrified as he began to back away and the scene began to change.

Now, she was in a dark room with no windows and nothing on its old, brick, walls. Mai tried to move her arms, but found that they were tethered to the wall by thick metal chains, as well as her feet. She screamed with all her might, but found that she had also been gagged. She glanced around the room, tears welling up in her eyes, as they adjusted to the darkness. On the other side of the room she could make out an outline of another person hanging from the opposite wall.

"NARU!" she screamed, well, tried to scream through the gag, as she watched as his form began to get clearer. He was covered in blood and his eyes were closed, his chest just barely rising and falling in short, quick breathes. "Naru…" she pleaded silently, tears streaming down her face now, hoping he would open his eyes and wake up with everything alright. Instead the figure that had brought her here formed in front of her, obscuring her view of him, and dragging her attention to its cold, sunken eyes. "Help…" she pleaded silently as the figure raised its large hand and pierced through her stomach.

Mai sat up, her heart pounding and ears ringing, tears began to form in her eyes. The jacket she had had on her back fell to the ground at her feet, but she didn't notice. She began to cry, harder than she had on any other case, and she put her head in her hands. Something shifted to her right and a hand placed itself on her back causing her to shriek in fear as she turn to push it away. "Mai," Naru said, looking at her, with hidden concern in his eyes. "Mai, it's alright. It was only a dream." He said, as she lifted her head and looked up at him. Sleep glazed his face, but concern was more prominent as Mai looked him over checking for any sign of wounds. She turned and grabbed his face, startling him slightly, and moved it every which way to make sure he was still alive and unharmed. Her hands felt like ice, and she was shaking badly.

"You're okay." She breathed, as she halfheartedly smiled and let go of his face. "You're okay." Naru watched her as she began to cry harder, and moved towards him to collapse into his shirt. He stiffened for a moment unsure of what to do for the girl, but he slowly moved his hands to her back, and leaned against the arm of the couch. He held onto her as she sobbed, unaware of the fact that she was practically laying on top of him. He moved his torso so she could lay more comfortably over him, as he reached down to retrieve the fallen coat. He leaned back once more and placed the coat on her back, covering every inch of Mai that he could. Her body heat warmed him, but her tears and sobs struck something in him that made him turn to ice.

He held onto her as she continued to sob, and whispered softly, "It's alright Mai. You're safe. It was just a dream." Soon enough, her crying began to settle as she calmed, and was replaced with slow, hypnotic, breaths, that made Naru's eyes glaze over. He closed them and pressed her closer to him, wishing she could sleep peacefully through the rest of the night, and absorbed her body heat. Having her pressed up against him was the best idea they'd come up with all night.

Even though Naru rarely expressed his emotions, he was still not able to bury the fact that this girl was special to him. No matter how much he tried to ignore it, holding her right now was something that he had been unknowingly longing for a long time.

His muscles began to relax and Naru could feel himself falling back asleep, not forgetting about the brown haired girl pressed to his chest.

...

At exactly 6:00 AM the next morning, Lin awoke to the rapping of ice against the window. He sat up and moved the blind to reveal the sky hailing large balls of ice, and sighed at the bad weather they had been receiving that week. He desperately wished he could fall back asleep, considering Naru had not let him go to his room until the late hours of the night, but decided it would be better to not have the teenager chewing his ear off.

He climbed out of bed and made his way to the bathroom. After washing his face and brushing his teeth, he got dressed and walked out of his room into the hallway. He traveled down the hall past Naru's room, betting that the teen was already at work in the base. Lin began to wonder if he'd actually even left the base at all last night, or gotten any sleep for that matter.

As he neared, he noticed that the door was open, and that there was no one watching the monitors. The fact that not even Naru was in the base made him a little concerned. After all the 17 year old seemed to be immune to sleep, and only seemed to focus on work. He looked around and walked towards the small sitting room, noticing how dark it was. He went over to one of the small lamps and flicked it on, only to be taken aback at what he saw. Though his eyes did not show it, Lin felt a certain "I told you so" feeling erupt through his chest at the sight he saw on the couch.

Naru was laying on his back with his head resting on one of the ugly, yellow couch pillows. His eyes were closed and his face was peaceful. But that was not what made the older man smirk. What caused that was the sight of the petite brunette lying on top of his chest with her head tucked under his chin. Mai's hands were pulled in close to her, and her body lay perfectly on top of his. Naru had both of his arms wrapped around her in a protective embrace, and his head was resting above hers. Both teenagers had dark circles under their closed eyes, and Lin began to wonder how they'd gotten on the couch like that in the first place, but he didn't wonder for long.

Mai's eyes squinted at the dull light of the lamp, and she pressed her face into the boy's chest as he responded by lifting his chin and holding her tighter. Lin smiled once more at the pair, who he, along with all the other member of the SPR, knew felt something more towards each other than they let on. He took their movements as a cue to leave and turned off the light, walked back into the room with the monitors, and silently closed to door separating the two rooms. He smiled to himself and walked over to the monitors just as Monk and Ayako walked in.


End file.
